Which Way for Catalan and Galician?

University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2006 Which Way for Catalan and Galician? Jay Gordon Bostrom The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Bostrom, Jay Gordon, "Which Way for Catalan and Galician?" (2006). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 1182. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1182 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Which Way for Catalan and Galician? By Jay Gordon Bostrom BA Spanish, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998 BA History, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Spanish The University of Montana Missoula, MT Autumn 2006 Approved by: Dr. David A. Strobel, Dean Graduate School Dr. Anthony Beltramo, Chair Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Dr. Stanley Rose Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Dr. Irene Appelbaum Anthropology Bostrom, Jay, M.A., Autumn 2006 Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Spanish Minority Language Attitudes in Galicia and Catalonia Chair: Professor Anthony Beltramo Despite legitimate fears of the effects twenty-first century globalization will have on linguistic diversity, vigorous efforts are being made to maintain minority languages in multi-national/ethnic states such as Spain. Catalonia and Galicia have not forgotten the severe treatment they received under the Franco dictatorship that resulted in untold damage to the trajectory of the languages. Even today, thirty-one years later, the negative effects are palpable and alive in the language attitudes of the Catalan and Galician people. The notion that a language is a unifying symbol of regional identity around which Catalonia and Galicia can rally to determine their own futures and resist the Spanish hegemon is valid. Nationalistic fervor and a sense of empowerment in these two regions continue to rise concomitantly with the increasing number of Catalan and Galician speakers. Current census data show positive gains in the number of Catalan and Galician people that can speak, read, write and understand their heritage languages. Attitudinal research shows parallel positive signs as Catalans and Galicians believe their languages are more than worth the effort to maintain them in the form of financial and political investment in their maintenance. However positive the signs may seem, there remain significant challenges for these minority languages in the face of increasing socio- cultural homogenization that can only be hastened further by globalization. The long- term survival of Catalan and Galician depends on more than a positive collective attitude that the language should be saved. This thesis elucidates current language attitudes of Galicians and Catalans. These two linguistic communities exhibit similarities and differences in their language attitudes. These similarities and differences help to explain the sometimes contradictory and sometimes parallel states of language maintenance in which Catalan and Galician are found. For the immediate future, the two minority languages appear to be in an overall positive state of linguistic health. Increasing numbers of speakers as well as the diminishing of low social status stigmas towards minority language speakers could mean a genuine reversal of language shift for Catalonia and Galicia. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to thank Professor Beltramo for having the patience to work with me throughout this often sidetracked project. Further thanks are due to Jodi for taking the time and investing the money to make my research possible. Finally, very special thanks to all of the people of Galicia and Catalonia who participated in this research. iii Preface Traditionally, a scientist tries to be indifferent to the results of his experiments. In fact, convention says that it is not necessary, nor desirable, that she be emotionally attached to the outcome at all. Instead, she should be committed to the “objective” analysis of empirical evidence regardless of outcome. Accordingly, “objectivity” is thought of as, perhaps, the primary expression of the scientific spirit. That is, scientific conclusions should be driven by cold, hard, value-free facts. However, during the last century doubt crept in as to whether or not such objectivity, even in the “hard” sciences, is possible. But is absolute objectivity the only condition under which experiments should be conducted? Or, can we conduct “scientific” research—seeking radical conclusions—with declared auspices and still achieve an acceptable standard of “truth?” Furthermore, what does science do to respond to postmodernism’s attack on the notion of “objectivity?” While the “hard” sciences may be predictably reluctant to concede to the probability that “pure” objectivity is impossible, the “soft” sciences—such as sociolinguistics, economics, anthropology, etc.—must admit the limitations within “human” sciences. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor of Linguistics at MIT, has dedicated a great deal of his time to discuss the elusive issue of objectivity: [N]o one working in the sciences has any confidence that what they are saying is correct. You can’t…You are drawing the best conclusions you can from scattered and limited evidence and finding the best theories you can—understanding that they are partial. That’s what science is. That’s iv what rational activity is. With regard to objectivity every scientist knows […] that he or she starts from a certain perspective; and you try to be critical of your own perspective, but you recognize that you can’t. I mean, you are approaching the problems you are dealing with from the point of view that you reached on the basis of earlier work—sometimes prejudiced [...] You constantly try to challenge it. And that’s the search for objectivity. Chomsky continues: Our concept of human nature is certainly limited, partial, socially conditioned—constrained by our own character defects—and the limitations of the intellectual culture in which we exist. Yet at the same time it is critical that we have some direction; that we know what the “impossible” goals are that we are trying to achieve, if we hope to achieve some of the “possible” goals. We have to be bold enough to speculate and create social theories on the basis of partial knowledge while remaining very open to the strong possibility, in fact the overwhelming probability, that we are very far off the mark (<http://www.chomsky.info/debates /1971xxxx.htm>). “Off the mark,” may be exactly where I land after I attempt a sociolinguistic description of Galicia and Catalonia, but I am encouraged to proceed with this endeavor despite my limited knowledge and the sociopolitical constraints by which I am conditioned and prejudiced. I expect that my research will raise important questions and v present future points of inquiry. Finally, I hope that I am fair in my analysis of the responses I got from the people that I interviewed in both regions. Being partial to the preservation of linguistic diversity is not something that I see as a hindrance to searching, scientifically or otherwise, for a viable model for minority language maintenance and reversing language shift. In fact, I feel it invigorates my dedication to seek innovative methods for achieving some of the Chomsky’s “possible goals,” like maintaining marginalized languages and cultures. I want to see as many languages survive into the future as possible. In fact, to speak of the “impossible,” I would like to see no more languages die. That is why I was drawn to Galicia and Catalonia as exemplary forms of minority language survival that have experienced a resurgence in the number of speakers, and more importantly, in the number of opportunities and situations to use them. Clearly, there are factors that make both of these communities more likely to “succeed” in their efforts to maintain their languages, but a deeper analysis of the society in which these languages live may help to broaden our understanding of the social relationship that exists between people and their language. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iv Preface v List of Figures and Maps ix Glossary xii Introduction 1 Chapter 1—Why Should Minority Languages be Saved? 11 Chapter 2—Language Attitudes 20 Chapter 3— Catalonia 32 Chapter 4— Galicia 64 Chapter 5—What Now? 90 Works Cited 95 Works Consulted 98 Appendix A 99 Appendix B 102 vii LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS Number Page Figure 1—Multi-component Model of Language Attitude 12 Figure 2—Most Important Factors in Catalan Identity 16 Figure 3—Most Important Factors in Galician Identity 16 Figure 4—Easiest Second Language to Learn (Native Catalan) 26 Figure 5—Easiest Second Language to Learn (Native Castilian) 27 Figure 6—2001 Census: Catalan Language Statistics from Catalonia 31 Figure 7—Number of Catalan Speakers (Regions where Catalan is Official) 32 Figure 8—Number of Catalan Speakers (Other territories) 32 Figure 9—Where is Purest Form of Catalan Spoken 33 Figure 10—Language Choice for Media Sources

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